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Shavasana, Tears and Yoga

Once in awhile, unexpected emotions ignite a need to cry after a yoga practice. It is usually an unanticipated energy that finds its way to be released when you surrender in Shavasana. If you let those good tears roll down and out, instead of fighting to hold them in, you are allowing your practice to finish its purpose. The original intention may not coincide with the results...but, let the energies move.

Believe me, you are not the only one in the room having this experience. Nor, is it likely to be a one time event. Emotions change like the ocean waves roll in and out. Some are turbulent. Some are placid. The one consistentency is change. Change is better than being static. If the waters didn't move, a film of bacteria would grow and devour the vibrant life that loves to move. Consider the tears a moving of residual "stuff".

The incredible heart that beats around 100,000 times a day for you needs you to listen to it...respect it...show it some love. It shows its love to you in countless ways. Let it show you the way. Allow it to move what needs to be brought in or flushed out.
Your heart, all 10 ounces of it, does so much more than beat since you were around six weeks in the womb until the day your energy returns to the Cosmos. This magnificent muscle has a mind of its own and has an energy force that resonates far past your body. The brain might be able to memorize facts, create incredible technology, and figure out how to get home; but, the heart knowsmore.
After all, it has its own neurological sytem within it. It actually communicates to the brain with its brilliantly designed system of neurotransmittors and receives messages sent back. Unlike the brain, it does not have an ego to impair its decision making. The heart's emotions are a reflection of your truth. The slightest integration of the ego distorts a reflection....like seeing your reflection in the water beomes misaligned by a pebble that plunks in a few feet away.

Fighting to hold back tears is the ego's effort of staying in control of everything. Don't let the ego be the boss of you. And, don't let emotions stirred by negative mental sources of the ego deceive you. Bad things do happen; I am not oblivious to that fact. History continues to repeat itself in many ways. If we watched the news (and believed all of it as complete truth), we'd all eventually roll in the fetal position and wait for the end. But, I must not digress to another topic. We need to stay focused on the heart of what matters.

All crying is not indicative of negative emotions. Difficult times will certainly expunge the emotions attached to them. Anger, insecurity,sadness, fear...we all experience these unwelcome waves. The key is not to let yourself keep riding that wave...the longer you ride it, the harder the crash. Permit yourself to let it move out. Fatty foods and lack of exercise are not the only things that build road blocks in your heart. The enzymes and overload of action based hormones (cortisol, adrenaline and epinephrine) can build the plaque that restricts your heart of the nice flow of oxygenated blood it keeps moving around you.

What about tears of happiness, sheer awareness of being or gratitude for the moment? I think those are the most delicious, salty tears of all. Permit yourself to experience it. The awareness of time and needing more of something evaporates.

I'll never forget the magnificent practice I had at the White Lotus Foundation. Great energy, challenging moves with a new approach, fabulous like-minded people in the same room...each breath felt like the gift it is. During Shavasana, I let my body relax and felt the delicious energy resonate from my skin. Then, the unexpected happened. The song I had listened to literally hundreds of times, Anthem by Leonard Cohen began to play.

Instead of just hearing the music and words, I actually felt the energy of it and crocodile tears rolled from the corners of my eyes. I was smiling. My heart felt what Leonard's magnetic voice was expressing. My mind was quiet so I could feel more deeply. Instead of squeezing the eyes to suppress the tears, I let them come to the surface and roll down and kiss my cheeks. All was right in my world and my heart felt love. I experienced the words of Cohen's song..."there's a crack in everything...that's how the Light gets in." Amen.

My practice was complete; but, my inner space travel seemed to have opened an unknown portal.

I read a quote that is so true in many ways: "The gap between more and enough never shortens." ~Jimmy John

Seek to enjoy the broadening of gaps in your Shavasana. It takes practice. It requires surrender. But when it happens, it makes you truly appreciate a deeper edge of Shavasana.

The body may be still, but the spirit just got a moment to dance freely. If it takes a few tears to do it, let them roll. Your heart will continue to thank you long after you leave the mat.

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Yoga sharpens awareness of the anatomy that creates the poses and movements. Conscious breathing tunes you into the subtle, yet paramount elements working inside the body. I help bring your attention to the details of connections...you choose the direction.